


aurora borealis

by Anonymous



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Carolina Hurricanes, M/M, anyway goodnight, does haula actually get called haulsy? does anyone know?, extremely gen fic that could be romance if you squint, happy christmas eve here's some nonsense, insert drawing of businessman going "I GUESS", should have been asleep two hours ago, were they actually on a bus through alberta in the middle of the night? it's a mystery, western canada roadtrip 2k19
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:54:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21931024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: "Is there any chance you could stop the bus for a minute?" Dougie asks.
Relationships: Dougie Hamilton/Andrei Svechnikov
Comments: 3
Kudos: 63
Collections: Anonymous





	aurora borealis

“Dougie,” comes Andrei’s voice through the darkness behind his eyelids, “look.”

“It’s the middle of the night, Svech,” he mumbles without opening his eyes, nestling further down into his hoodie and stretching his legs as best he can under the bus seat in front of him.

“I know, but…” Andrei trails off for a moment. When he speaks again, his tone is wondering, almost reverent, and that alone is enough to catch Dougie’s attention. “It’s the sky.”

“The sky?” Dougie’s fully awake now, even with his hood still pulled low over his face.

“The — damn, what’s the English word? _Severnoye siyaniye._ North, northern… when the sky glows —“

“— northern lights,” Petr interjects from the row behind them.

“Thank you,” Andrei says with obvious relief. “Northern lights. Dougie, _look._ ”

Dougie pushes his hoodie back and looks, and finds his breath caught in his throat.

The starry winter sky outside is awash in color. Ribbons of faint green shimmer and tremble above the snow-covered Alberta landscape. Dougie’s never seen the northern lights so bright before, and their intensity combined with the total stillness of the world outside the bus leaves him speechless for a moment.

“The solar wind must have been strong today,” Turbo comments from across the aisle, his face dimly lit by the glow of his phone. “Wikipedia says the lights aren’t usually this visible this far south.”

_This far south,_ Dougie thinks a little hysterically, but then, Finland is far to the north of most of Canada. He pictures these same lights over downtown Raleigh: an impossibility.

When he glances at Andrei again his cheek is pressed to the window, his eyes reflecting starlight. 

He’ll never be sure what makes him do what he does next, but he’s up and moving to the front of the bus before he knows what’s happening. Carefully, so as not to startle the bus driver, he places his hand on his arm. The man turns in surprise.

“Is there any chance you could stop the bus for a minute?” Dougie asks.

“There’s a bathroom in the back of the bus,” the driver says, confused. “Next rest stop isn’t for thirty miles.” 

“I don’t need a rest stop. I just want to go outside for a sec.” 

The driver is silent, and Dougie adds, a little desperate, “It’s the northern lights.”

Is it his imagination, or does the man smile briefly in the dimness?

“Looks like there’s a turnoff up ahead,” he replies at length, and Dougie feels the bus begin to slow. “I can give you five minutes.”

“Thank you so much,” Dougie says, and means it.

He walks back down the aisle, grabs his coat, and leans over his empty seat to touch Andrei’s shoulder. “C’mon.”

Andrei turns away from the window, puzzled, and Dougie leans in a little further, just enough to stage-whisper, “I got him to stop the bus.”

“Only you, Dougie,” Nino murmurs from the row ahead. When Dougie looks back at Andrei, his eyes are laughing.

They pull on coats and scarves and gloves as they descend the bus stairs. Dimly, Dougie hears footsteps and quiet voices and knows some of their teammates must have followed, but he only has eyes for the sky. Beyond the emerald bands he can just make out the Milky Way, a splash of light against the blackness of space. He’s never seen anything so amazing.

Haulsy speaks softly at his left. “In northern Finland they tell stories of the fire fox, who runs so fast across the snow that his tail leaves sparks in the atmosphere.”

“The question is, will the fire fox let you get on the internet if you catch it,” Zinger adds, and dodges Haulsy’s swipe in his direction with a yelp.

Andrei laughs from Dougie’s right, eyes sparkling and cheeks flushed with cold, gaze never leaving the sky. “Maybe if you ask nicely?”

“Dude,” Dougie interrupts, “where the hell is your good coat?”

Andrei shrugs in his windbreaker. “On the bus.” At Dougie’s incredulous look, he continues, unrepentant and a little smug, “Siberia is much colder this time of year.” 

Dougie rolls his eyes and wraps his arm around Andrei’s shoulders, tugging him in close. Andrei grins and doesn’t protest.

The minutes pass in silence, broken only by the crunch of footsteps in the snow as more and more of the team make their way out of the bus to stand awestruck in the bitter air, watching the lights dance across the sky.

They’ve got a long way to go before they reach their destination tonight, and longer still before they’re home in their own beds, and there’s a long, long road between there and the playoffs. But that doesn’t matter right now. Right now, standing on a roadside in Alberta with snow soaking into his shoes, this is the closest to peace Dougie thinks he’ll ever have.

_All is calm,_ he thinks, with Andrei a warm and solid weight against his side. _All is bright._


End file.
